SSL ‘execs’ face court Jan 26

Law-enforcement officials are seeking to quell public criticisms of the near three-year investigation into the alleged multibillion-dollar fraud at collapsed investment firm Stocks & Securities Limited (SSL).

Inspector Brenton Williams, head of the Constabulary Financial Unit, called the alleged $5-billion fraud “long-standing and sophisticated” and said the complexity of the investigation “cannot be overstated”.

Probing it, Williams said, required a comprehensive review of events dating back to SSL’s inception in 2006, including careful analysis of investor activity and how funds moved over the 17-year period before it collapsed.

“We understand the public’s expectation for swift results and that delays can be viewed negatively. Work of this nature takes time and must be done diligently,” he said in a public statement released late yesterday by the Financial Investigation Division (FID), the agency leading the probe.

“However, the JCF, FID and our law-enforcement partners, including MOCA, have the capacity and the expertise to conduct these investigations thoroughly and bring matters forward in keeping with the rule of law,” added Williams, making reference to the Jamaica Constabulary Force and the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency.

The assertions came a day after three former SSL executives were arrested during a series of coordinated operations in St Andrew and St James.

Later on Saturday, the three – founding Director Hugh Croskery, his daughter Sarah Meany, and former Chief Executive Officer Zachary Harding – were each charged with breaching key laws governing the financial sector, the FID confirmed.

All three have been charged with fraudulently inducing persons to invest; failure to register a company carrying on business in Jamaica; carrying on a securities business without a dealer’s licence; failure to apply to the [Financial Services] Commission to be registered for securities issued; and breaches of the Banking Services Act.

Similar charges have also been laid against SSL, the Harding-led Delta Capital Partners Limited, and SSL Growth Equity Limited, the FID said.

The charges fall under the Securities Act, the Bank of Jamaica Act, the Banking Services Act and the Larceny Act.

Harding was also charged with breaching the Companies Act.

Croskery and Meany were released on bail in the sum of $1 million and are scheduled to make their first court appearance on January 26, their attorneys King’s Counsel Peter Champagnie and Michael Hemmings confirmed.

They were ordered to surrender their travel documents as part of the bail conditions.

Sources revealed that Harding was also granted bail, but the conditions of his release were not disclosed.

Champagnie pushed back at public criticisms of the decision to grant Croskery station bail.

He acknowledged that the old Bail Act of 2001 placed a $400,000 ceiling on the bail sum law-enforcement personnel at the rank of superintendent and above could authorise.

However, the attorney said the new Bail Act of 2023 “is silent on that”.

“That provision was not carried over,” he toldThe Gleaneryesterday, adding that accused persons have a constitutional right to bail.

Champagnie said his client has consistently maintained that he did not do anything wrong and has always made himself available to the relevant authorities.

He also urged caution from “those who are quick to want to pronounce guilt”.

“Allow the process to be ventilated in court, so that there is a proper evaluation of the situation in a judicious way,” the attorney said.

Acting Senior Superintendent Victor Barrett, deputy director of the police Counter Terrorism and Organised Crime Division, noted that complex financial investigation demands disciplined teamwork, operational precision, and careful coordination across multiple units.

He said the latest developments in the investigation highlight what is possible when law-enforcement agencies work in step, share intelligence and secure evidence, in accordance with high global standards.